Gloucestershire beat Somerset to win first T20 title

Vitality Blast Finals Day, Edgbaston - Final

Somerset 124 (19.4 overs): Gregory 53; M Taylor 3-18, Payne 3-27

Gloucestershire 129-2 (14.5 overs): Hammond 58*, Bancroft 53

Gloucestershire win by eight wickets

Scorecard

Gloucestershire won their first T20 Blast title in glorious style as they beat holders Somerset, comprehensively outplaying their West Country rivals to claim their first trophy in nine years.

Openers Cameron Bancroft, up against his former county, and Miles Hammond both hit half-centuries at Edgbaston as they won by eight wickets with 31 balls to spare.

Somerset's hopes of a trophy treble, which had been given such a big boost by Thursday's sensational County Championship win over Surrey, increased when they beat Surrey again in a well-contested semi-final.

But that treble dream - and the chance to become the first side to retain the T20 trophy - ended when they proved no match for a Gloucestershire side who came from nowhere to squeeze through in the Southern Group, then followed it up with three straight Edgbaston wins.

The unlikely quarter-final victory over Birmingham Bears eight days ago, Saturday afternoon's eight-wicket win over Sussex and then this repeat eight-wicket walloping earned Gloucestershire their first knockout trophy win since the 2015 One-Day Cup victory over Surrey at Lord's.

It all added up to a marvellous day out for their fans after previously being denied in the very first T20 Finals Day in 2003, Kent in the final in 2007 and Covid in 2020, when the county last made it to a then empty Edgbaston.

It was also a personal triumph for coach Mark Alleyne, who played in the only other cup final meeting between Somerset and Gloucestershire in the Nat West Trophy at Lord's 25 years ago.

Somerset still have the Championship title and the One-Day Cup to go at, while Gloucestershire became the 14th side to win the T20 - leaving Yorkshire, Durham, Derbyshire and Glamorgan as the only four sides not to have done so in its 22 editions.

After being inserted by Gloucestershire, Tom Kohler-Cadmore got over his semi-final golden duck to make a bright start with Will Smeed, smashing 28 off the first three overs.

But Somerset then wobbled when Smeed steered Matt Taylor's first ball straight to backward point. Taylor then added a second wicket in the over when he deceived Kohler-Cadmore with his slower ball and Tom Price took an off-side catch.

Taylor had another off the final ball of his next over when James Rew was caught in the covers by a diving Bancroft. And, just two balls later, Somerset's other semi-final half-centurion hero Sean Dickson also fell cheaply first ball when he reverse-swept into his leg stump, off Ollie Price.

Tom Abell perished to Tom Price at long on, then David Payne struck twice in two balls when Benny Green was caught off a leading edge at backward point and Craig Overton looped a catch to captain Jack Taylor diving forward at mid off.

After Roelof van der Merwe was caught behind, captain Gregory eked a few more to go to his half-century before he was ninth out for 53 and Jake Ball was last out in the final over.

Somerset skipper Lewis Gregory hit two sixes and three fours in his brave 53 off 37 balls, to follow his three wickets in the semi-final

But 124 - the lowest first-innings score in a T20 final since Warwickshire made just 115 in the very first final and lost to Surrey by nine wickets in 2003 - never looked nearly enough.

It soon became clear the way Bancroft and Hammond were going that the big danger to Somerset was not just losing - but becoming the first to do so on Finals Day by 10 wickets.

As it was, after just a couple of close calls, Bancroft finally perished with only 13 needed, when he was caught on the boundary by Smeed off Josh Davey.

But not until he had followed Daniel Hughes, Sam Hain, Michael Pepper and injured Somerset opener Tom Banton as the fifth player to reach 500 runs in the Blast this summer.

The Australian was only deemed good enough to have played in one T20 international for his country - against India in 2016 when he batted at number seven at the end of the innings and never faced a ball.

But he shone here when it mattered most, hitting two sixes - both off Craig Overton, one of them a spectacular ramp, although he was outscored in the end by Hammond, who plundered three sixes and six fours.

The victors did lose another wicket - James Bracey third ball - but Ollie Price came in to end the match in style with the winning six to start the serious consumption of celebratory Gloucestershire cider.

Reaction - 'We have a strong belief'

Gloucestershire coach Mark Alleyne told BBC Radio Bristol:

"It was a real pleasure. The guys just kept on giving. Just getting here was an achievement, to qualify from that group.

"It's so special. The bowlers and fielders set it up for us and the batters went out and finished the job."

Gloucestershire captain Jack Taylor:

“We’ve had a tough few years and it’s been a while since we won a trophy, but we have a strong belief in the group.

"We may not have international stars but we’ve got guys that can get it done. To play like that and have two comfortable victories is more than we could ever have imagined."

Somerset captain Lewis Gregory:

"They bowled brilliantly. We just couldn't get going. Had we got to 150 we'd have had a sniff but it was always going to be a challenge with the ball."

Somerset opener Tom Kohler-Cadmore:

"Lewis Gregory played beautifully. You hoped there would be someone who could have supported a bit better but there wasn’t. They bowled really well and kept taking wickets. But, if someone had been able to stay with Lewis we might be talking about a different result.

"As it was, we didn’t get enough runs on the board - and we felt the pitch got better as the evening wore on. When they came through the powerplay without losing a wicket it was game over really."